


Priorities

by ArgentLives



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Headaches & Migraines, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-24 00:52:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,780
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4899244
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgentLives/pseuds/ArgentLives
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Can you walk?”</p><p>“Yeah, I think so,” Cisco pushed himself off of Barry, suddenly embarrassed at the realization that he was leaning heavily on him, letting him support most of his weight. He attempted to take a step forward—</p><p>—only to nearly topple right back over, the pain in his head making him feel disoriented and weak. Barry caught him before he could go crashing face-first into the ground, pulling him back towards him and steadying his shoulders. </p><p>“Okay, maybe not yet, but—”</p><p>Before he could protest, Barry slipped an arm underneath Cisco’s legs and wrapped the other around his back, picking him up bridal-style and holding him close.</p><p>“Barry…you don’t need to…I can…uh,” Cisco protested half-heatedly, already letting his head loll against Barry’s chest, mumbling into the material of his suit.</p><p>“Just hold on,” he said softly, careful to keep his voice low. “I got you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Priorities

**Author's Note:**

> written for the prompt: "barrisco + headache"

“Cisco…Cisco, are you okay?” Barry’s voice filled his ear, strained and staticky through his comm, and clearly very worried. “Talk to me, man.”

Cisco clutched at his head and groaned, biting out one word as noise thundered on his ear drums, exacerbating the stabbing pain steadily building between his temples. “Hurts.”

There was a brief pause, a _thump_  and a  _whoosh_  and then Barry’s voice again, this time lower and laced with panic. “Stay where you are—I’m coming to you.”

He tried to tell Barry no, that he’d be fine, to worry about stopping the metahuman they were currently supposed to be taking care of and not about him, but all that came out was another groan. Barry started to say something, no doubt something like  _‘Don’t worry’_  or _‘It’ll be okay’_ or, because it was Barry and it was just a Barry thing to do, _‘I’m sorry,’_ even though the reason for Cisco’s current pain obviously was not his fault. 

Well, not entirely, but the voice in his ear certainly wasn’t making his head hurt any less, so he switched off his comm and waited for Barry to find him, feeling guilty, hoping the sudden cut-off wouldn’t worry him too much. He sat down hard, lacing his fingers behind his neck and pushing his head down between his knees, legs sprawled out in front of him, squeezing his eyes shut to block out the glow from streetlight above and breathing hard through his nose and out his mouth.

He rocked back and forth for a while, hands traveling up from his neck to grip the back of his head, pressing his fingers hard against his skull and rubbing circles to try to ease the pain–to no avail, of course. God, he’d had migraines before, but this was…this was something else.

His eyes remained firmly shut as he waited, biting down hard on his lip to keep from screaming, but the familiar flash of yellow light seemed to bleed through. Even as he was forced to crack an eye open, the sudden  _whoosh_ blowing his hair out of his faceand the crackling of energy in the air around him sent a wave of relief washing over him.  _Barry_.

“Are you okay? Where does it hurt? What happened?”

“Loud…” Cisco groaned, clutching his head tighter, as Barry’s panicky, rapid-fire questions sent another wave of nausea through him, every word like a hammer pounding against his head, _inside_ his head. Honestly, he wasn’t going to have any hair left if he kept this up. And shit, he really liked his hair. “You’re…talking…too loud…”

“I’m sorry,” he heard Barry say, voice much softer, much quieter, and even more worried than before. Cisco felt him crouch down in front of him, saw the red shoes—not shoes? boots? material? he built it, he should know, but thinking right now was…God,  _whatever—_ of Barry’s suit through squinted eyes, but he kept his gaze trained firmly on the ground, too embarrassed and too tired to look his friend in the eye. Except, yeah, that plan wasn’t going to work, because before he could so much as blink, Barry was tilting his chin up with careful, gloved fingers, fast but exceedingly gentle, and Cisco was startled into meeting his anxious gaze.

“What happened?” Barry repeated, this time with a little more urgency, eyes searching Cisco’s face before letting his gaze wander, no doubt roaming the rest of his body for injuries.

“I’m fine,” ( _no you’re really fucking not_ ) “I’m not hurt,” ( _that’s debatable. really debatable_ ) “At least not—not injured, per-say,” ( _pull yourself together, Cisco, for all you know it’s probably just a fucking migraine after all or something_ ) “It’s just, my head, I—I don’t know.”

“Cisco, no offense, but you really don’t look fine. You said your head is bothering you?”  He absentmindedly loosened his grip on Cisco’s chin, bringing his hand up to press the back of his fingers to Cisco’s forehead. “You don’t feel warm…which is—you know what, I don’t know what that would have anything to do with it anyway, wow, weird habit, sorry, uh—I don’t see any head injuries but…you sure you didn’t hit it or something?” 

“No, I don’t know what it is. It’s just—it’s killing me, dude, I feel like something’s splitting open my skull and— _oww._ ”

Cisco dipped his head lower as he felt another stab of pain, and Barry startled at the sudden movement. Almost as though he’d forgotten it was even there, he pulled his hand away from Cisco’s forehead, and even in the limited light they had Cisco could see the blush creeping into his cheeks. 

“Sorry,” he said, embarrassed, and all Cisco could manage was a small shake of his head, as if to say ‘don’t worry about it.’ He wanted to say he didn’t mind, that the closeness and the contact and Barry’s flustered look didn’t bother him, that in fact he almost immediately missed the comforting touch, and any other time his stomach would be doing somersaults at the prospect of making Barry blush—but he couldn’t think straight, and words were  _hard_ , and that conversation, already a long time coming, would have to wait till later.

But then the comforting touch was back, this time a hand around his forearm, strong and steady, helping pull him to his feet. 

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Cisco pushed himself off of Barry, suddenly embarrassed at the realization that he was leaning heavily on him, letting him support most of his weight. He attempted to take a step forward—

—only to nearly topple right back over, the pain in his head making him feel disoriented and weak. Barry caught him before he could go crashing face-first into the ground, pulling him back towards him and steadying his shoulders. 

“Okay, maybe not yet, but—”

Before he could protest, Barry slipped an arm underneath Cisco’s legs and wrapped the other around his back, picking him up bridal-style and holding him close.

“Barry…you don’t need to…I can…uh,” Cisco protested half-heatedly, already letting his head loll against Barry’s chest, mumbling into the material of his suit.

“Just hold on,” he said softly, careful to keep his voice low with Cisco so close. “I got you.”

 

* * *

 

“What happened to Mardon?” Cisco asked back at STAR Labs, when he could speak without wanting to scream again, the pain in his head now much more manageable, not so much of an  _‘I’m going to die’_  pain anymore but more of a  _‘this really fucking sucks, but I’ll live’_ kind of pain. So. Hooray for small victories. 

Barry ran a tired hand down his face, sighing angrily, looking away from Cisco to glare at a spot on the wall. Even though Cisco knew his frustration wasn’t directed at him, it was hard to fight the twinge of guilt in his stomach at that look. He hated that look on Barry–jaw clenched, muscles tensed, eyes cold and steely. “He…well, he got away.”

Cisco ran a shaky hand through his hair, tangling his fingers in it and pulling at the ends to keep himself grounded, feeling his mouth go dry, the ringing in his ears getting louder. He’d suspected it, of course, but hearing Barry say it out loud…knowing that they’d been so close…

“He got away because of  _me_.” Cisco said, refusing to look Barry in the eyes even though he could feel him staring, could sense his concern. “I—you shouldn’t have come back for me. I shouldn’t have been so—so  _weak_. What if he hurts someone tonight because I couldn’t handle a stupid headache and he got away and—"

“Hey, Cisco, it’s fine,” Barry soothed, eyes softening, the anger at Mardon’s—what was it, third? fourth, now?—escape quickly dissipating as Cisco’s shoulders began to shake, at the tremor in his voice, still thick with pain. “You’re more important, anyway. You were hurt, and that was my main priority. And there’s no point in arguing, because you’re _always_ going to be a priority, dude. And if that means that the bad guy got away this time…well, it’s worth it, knowing that you’re safe.”

Cisco shook his head, clenching his teeth together and squeezing his eyes shut as another wave of pain hit him, another nasty throb in his head, like someone was attacking his brain with a thousand tiny knives.  _Okay, so, maybe ‘manageable’ had been a bit of a stretch._  “But I didn’t—I wasn’t even in  _danger,_  that’s the thing. What’s happening to me, it wasn’t—it wasn’t from fighting him, it was…I think it’s a side effect of my own powers, you know?”

“Well, that’s understandable. I mean, really, I’d imagine looking into alternate realities probably puts a shit-ton of strain on your mind. Caitlin will check you out. See what’s up. I called her while you were resting—she’s on her way.”

“It’s just— _we were so close_. The plan was perfect. If it weren’t for me, if you hadn’t had to come get me, we would’ve had him.  _You_  would’ve had him.”

“It’s  _okay_ , seriously. You’re still just getting used to this, learning more about your powers and figuring out how to use them. And you’re already putting yourself out there in the middle of things, using them to fight and to help people, which says a lot, Cisco.” He paused, putting a comforting hand on Cisco’s shoulder. “I mean, really, just think of all the times I screwed up or let people slip away when I— _we_ —first started all of this, and when I was getting used to mine! Hell, I  _still_ mess up. Don’t beat yourself up about it, please.”

Cisco sucked in a deep breath, wanting so much to believe it, but his head was still killing him and he felt heavy and weak and tired and guilty and stupid and—the hand on his shoulder tightened, cutting off that train of thought, as though Barry sensed his doubt, and when he smiled at Cisco like that, all reassuring and supportive and sure, as if to say  _‘you’re fine, you’re fine, believe me, please,’_ well, it was hard not to. He nodded slowly, still a bit unsure, but…not as much. 

“We’ll get him next time, Cisco,” Barry promised, pulling Cisco closer to him. He hesitated for a moment before dipping his head down to place a kiss on Cisco’s forehead, his lips cool and soothing against his skin. Cisco leaned into his touch, momentarily distracted, for the first time, from the throbbing ache in his head. “Together.”

**Author's Note:**

> originally posted on my [tumblr](http://bisexualiriswest.tumblr.com/), as most of my prompt fills are.


End file.
